Ahl al-Bayt (a) News Agency

Ahl al-Bayt (a) News Agency

Web address	http://www.abna24.com
Available in	27 languages
Owner	Ahl al-Bayt (a) World Assembly
Created by	Ahl al-Bayt (a) World Assembly
Status	active
Launched	2006
Location	Qom

Ahl al-Bayt (a) News Agency (Persian:خبرگزاری اهل بیت) with the acronym ABNA belongs to the Ahl al-Bayt (a) World Assembly which officially began its activity in 2006 and reflects the news of Shi'a world in 25 languages. This news agency won the best news agency award in Iranian press exhibition in 2012-3.

History

On March 14, 2005, the analytical-journalistic website of Shi'aNews was launched by the international deputy of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) World Assembly and began its activity from the beginning in three languages of Persian, Arabic, and English.

In the summer of 2006, the management of Shi'aNews had some changes, and a new structure was designed for the website and was renamed "Akhbar-i Shi'ayan".

After the website was welcomed by Shi'a in Iran and the world, its new course began from August 2007 in an official inauguration by the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and this analytical-journalistic website continued its activity with the official name of "Ahl al-Bayt (a) News Agency" and the acronym of ABNA on the internet domain www.abna24.com.

Ahl al-Bayt (a) News Agency (ABNA) successfully received official permission on September 17th, 2012, from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Languages

ABNA is now working in 27 languages of English, Arabic, French, Chinese, Persian, Spanish, German, Russian, Turkish, Azeri (in Latin and Cyrillic writing styles), Urdu, Bangla, Malay, Hindi, Bahasa Indonesia, Swahili, Hausa, Burmese, Bosnian, Sorani Kurdish, Kurmanji Kurdish, Portuguese, and Japanese.

Cultural Pages

In addition to the newscast, ABNA has also dedicated religious and cultural pages (known as "Green Pages") to its readers since the beginning of its activity. The title of some of these pages are: Ahlul Bayt (AS), Supplication, Mahdism, Wahhabiology, Why I became Shia?, Hijab, Beauty, Health, and Papers.

Its Awards

During the course of its activity, this news agency has participated in local, national, and international exhibitions and festivals and has won three awards:

• Best news agency of 2012 in the 19th International Press and News Agencies Exhibition, Tehran, November 2012.
• Best news agency in the first Ishraq Film Festival, June 2012.
• The chosen in the international section of the 6th International Festival of Digital Media, January 2013.
• Best news agency in the second National Ishraq Film Festival, November 2013.

AhlulBayt news agency was filtered in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain due to the coverage of Shi'a news.